We are honored to have been awarded the 2016 Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion in International Education (EDIE) Award from Diversity Abroad.
Awarded annually, Diversity Abroad’s EDIE Award recognizes an individual, an institution, and an organization, for their dedication, innovation, and persistence in working toward providing young people from diverse and underserved backgrounds equal access to international education opportunities.
As this year’s organizational recipient, we are proud to have been able to better target diverse and underrepresented students through recruiting, advising, and leadership.
Andrew Gordon, President & Founder of Diversity Abroad said, “Global learning is an essential aspect of a quality education for those who will be successful in the 21st Century. Creating equitable access to international educational opportunities for diverse and underrepresented students has been a goal for many years. The awardees have demonstrated that with innovative thinking, persistence, and a commitment to serving all students, this shared goal is achievable. I applaud the recipients for their accomplishments.”
Our Initiative to Diversify Education Abroad (IDEA) works to better reach, fund, and prepare students for their programs abroad. By fostering the connections between underrepresented students and their study abroad offices, we have seen a 79.9% rise in students of color enrolling in our study abroad programs since 2011, and a year-over-year enrollment growth in ethnically-diverse students of 18.5% from 2014-15 to 2015-16. Additionally, 25% of our students are from diverse or underrepresented backgrounds.
This growth was achieved despite the fact that over the last 10 years there has been a slow and modest increase in the number of U.S. minority students who study abroad. The Institute for International Education (IIE) cited in their most recent Open Doors report that the number of African-American, Asian-American, and Hispanic students that have studied abroad since 2000 has risen only about two percent for each group respectively.
Our Director of Diversity Recruiting & Advising Gretchen Cook-Anderson said, “At IES Abroad, we’re creating global leaders. In making study abroad more accessible, we hope that many more students of all backgrounds will join the growing ranks of global citizens who are leading change around the world. So, we couldn’t be happier or more honored to have our years-long work to diversify education abroad recognized by our peers with this EDIE Award.”
We are proud to sit among the other 2016 EDIE recipients, Miami Dade College, and James Pasquill III from the University of Albany.
